A Guide To Caring for Invisalign Trays

Invisalign® is a teeth straightening treatment that uses a series of clear aligner trays. While Invisalign can complete the straightening process faster than other options, proper maintenance of these trays is essential to an effective, comfortable treatment. The good news is that proper maintenance is easy for patients to complete regularly.

Maintenance tips for Invisalign

While the dental provider will review how each patient may best care for their Invisalign trays, there are a few general guidelines and tips to keep in mind. Here are some of the most important:

Clean trays daily

Make sure to clean the aligner trays twice a day, every day. Gently brush them with a soft-bristled brush under lukewarm water in the morning and at night. This will help remove any bacteria and prevent the formation of tartar, which looks white, cloudy, and powdery, in the grooves of the tray.

If tartar builds up on the tray, it may be necessary to soak it in a special cleaning solution. Invisalign makes branded products for this purpose. However, a dental provider can recommend alternatives.

Make oral hygiene a priority

Good oral hygiene is key to Invisalign treatment for several reasons. For one, food stuck between the teeth can cause discomfort as the trays attempt to shift them. Removing any stuck bits of food can solve this problem.

Further, regular brushing and flossing help to prevent tooth decay and gum disease, and the treatment delays those oral health conditions would bring. For best results, only put trays in a clean mouth—brush after each meal and rinse the mouth after drinking anything other than water to remove residue.

Practice proper storage habits

Storing Invisalign trays in the provided case makes it easier to keep track of them. It also prevents them from being crushed or stolen and chewed up by pets. This is crucial to ensuring treatment goes as smoothly and quickly as possible, as the trays will have a lower chance of getting lost or broken.

Fix broken trays immediately

If a patient breaks an aligner tray, they should reach out to the dental professional as soon as possible. In some cases, the professional can advise the next best course of action. One option involves ordering a replacement promptly and offer advice on how to prevent the teeth from shifting out of position. For instance, patients may need to wear their previous trays to maintain results while they wait for their replacement. Other times, they may be able to move on to the next tray set.

If the dental provider recommends moving on to the next set of trays—such as if the loss or damage happened near the end of the current set—those first few days may be more uncomfortable than usual. This discomfort only occurs because the teeth are not in the proper position for the next tray. The provider can discuss how to manage this transition more comfortably.